Spurs Fail to Take Their Chances as West Ham Find a Winner

Sunday 24th October 2021

Match Report

West Ham United 1 – 0 Tottenham Hotspur

Venue: London Stadium, London

Competition: English Premier League

"Pre-Match Thoughts – It's going to be a tough one for Spurs – Always difficult heading to East London for their cup final, and West Ham are a strong side these days. One advantage for Spurs is having both played in Europe on Thursday, we had the squad depth to play an entirely changed 11, leaving all 'the big guns' resting at home. West Ham on the other hand played pretty much their full strength side, the only notable exception being Antonio. He was afforded the rest, and he does have a habit of scoring against us.

I'd LOVE to see us come out of there with 3 points. It'd be a step towards a suddenly promising looking season under Nuno. After that woeful performance from the fringe players against Vitesse, it's time to see 'the big guns' step up and show them how it's done. I'm going 2-1 Spurs."

As expected, Nuno selected the same starting line-up that ran out 3-2 winners against Newcastle last weekend. Fans hoped the likes of Kane, Ndombele, Reguilón and Skipp would pick up from where they left off.

West Ham had a chance in the opening ten minutes – Fornals' scissor-kicked effort following a cross from the right side was well executed, but Lloris saved well down to his right.

Spurs' passing was sloppy in the opening stages. A lot of balls were way over hit. The game went through a frenetic period for both sides in the middle of the park.

Son came close to opening the scoring when Ndombele slid a lovely ball down the right side of the area for him to latch onto. The Korean attempted to slot it past the keeper first time but Fabianski was out quickly to close the angle and make the save.

With just over half an hour played, a Fornals cross found a leaping Soucek at the far post, but his header from close range was a fraction wide.

Moments later Ndombele found himself with a headed chance of his own – Reguilón's right-footed cross found him as he rushed into the area. Ndombele connected well with the header, but it was too central and resulted in a simple save.

Spurs finished the half strongly, and another Reguilón cross led to another opportunity – This time he floated one over to the far post where Kane got a good run on it and powered the header at goal. Fabianski got a strong hand to it just under his crossbar and palmed it behind.

"Thoughts at Half Time – With the home support behind them, West Ham started off the stronger of the two sides. But Spurs grew into the game and looked like scoring approaching the whistle for the break. Unfortunately they couldn't capitalise on some decent chances and we go into half-time goalless in what's been an even encounter so far. This one's there for the taking. Which side will step it up in the second half?"

It was a bright start from Spurs as Skipp threaded an excellent ball through to Ndombele down the right side. He crossed it in low trying to find Kane but Fabianski was out quickly to smother it and intercept.

With half an hour remaining, Romero made an interception on the edge of the Spurs area and found himself with a chance to break away on the counter. He took it on wholeheartedly, driving forward through the centre of the pitch. With Kane up to his right, Son came racing up the left with such speed that he soon looked the better option. Unfortunately Romero failed to see him and went right to Kane who was forced out wide. Kane had seen Son and tried to switch it over to him, but the cross was too close to the keeper.

Not long after and Reguilón made a good interception on the edge of his area but then gave it straight away to Fornals. His shot deflected off Dier and forced a brilliant fingertip save from Lloris.

The resulting corner evaded a cluster of players at the near post and Antonio was alert to shin it into the bottom corner. 1-0. The West Ham striker reacted much quicker than his marker, Kane, who was caught off guard.

With less than ten to go Nuno tried to make an impact by introducing Gil and Lo Celso for Reguilón and Ndombele. A surprise decision, as those two had been players who looked like they could help make something happen. Ndombele was visibly frustrated and may well have thought one of the two defensive midfielders would've been better to bring off with Spurs desperately needing a goal.

Bergwijn came on for Moura as the final change, but none of the three managed to make an impact.

"Thoughts at Full-Time – Not good enough from Spurs. They lacked creativity in the final third and struggled to create chances in the second half. The few they did manage to create they didn't capitalise on and were eventually punished by Antonio at the other end. Once West Ham had found the goal they closed-out the game relatively easily. Another really disappointing defeat and setback to our season."

Tottenham Player Ratings

• 1. Hugo Lloris – 7 – Made a few good saves. Nothing he could do for the goal from close range.

• 12. Emerson Royal – 5 – Decent. Not much of note really.

• 4. Cristian Romero – 6 – Looked up for it. Strong in the challenge and raced forward to join the attack whenever given the opportunity.

• 15. Eric Dier – 6 – Made some decent blocks. Pretty solid.

• 3. Sergio Reguilón – 6 – Set up some of our best chances with his crossing. Made a good interception on the edge of the box before sloppily giving it straight back away to Fornals, whose shot led to the corner resulting in West Ham's goal.

• 5. Pierre-Emile Højbjerg – 5 – Broke down play in midfield on occasions. Didn't offer enough going forward for Spurs.

• 29. Oliver Skipp – 6 – Similar to Højbjerg but a little more involved. Both did some strong work winning the ball for the team and finding passes, but both too defensive minded to help us find a goal.

• 27. Lucas Moura – 4 – Little of note from Moura and it was one of those games where he was often seen trying to break away head down dribbling but ending up on the deck after running into an opposition player.

• 28. Tanguy Ndombele – 7 – Showed his silky skills on the ball. Looked the most likely to make things happen for us. Visibly disappointed to be subbed at the end.

• 7. Son Heung-min – 7 – Worked hard. Tracked back Bowen all the way from one penalty area to the other to make a tackle at one point. Burst into promising positions to score on occasion, but no one could find him with a final ball.

• 10. Harry Kane – 4 – Another quiet game for Kane. Many would have expected him to score his header just before half-time. Caught flat-footed for the goal as his man Antonio was alert to knock the ball into the net right in front of him.

Substitutions:

• 3. Sergio Reguilón <-- 84' --> 11. Bryan Gil – N/A – Had one burst into the box in his short cameo, but the ball didn't fall for him.

• 28. Tanguy Ndombele <-- 84' --> 18. Giovani Lo Celso – N/A – On as a late substitute. Didn't have a chance to get involved.

• 27. Lucas Moura <-- 90+1' --> 23. Steven Bergwijn – N/A – On too late to have any impact.

Man of the Match – 28. Tanguy Ndombele